After years of hard work and perseverance, I am finally preparing to graduate from ODU with a bachelor’s of science in cybersecurity. However, my journey to this port in my life has not been easy. When I transferred to ODU in 2022, I faced one of the challenging periods of my life. I was suffering from a mental health crisis that made it difficult to focus on my studies, let alone my personal life. During that time, I felt lost and depressed about my future, I was unsure if I would even make it through the program due to constantly withdrawing from classes. Despite these struggles, I was able to push forward, leaning on the support of my friends, family, and my determination to navigate through the toughest moments of my life. The moment I chose to study cybersecurity was a turning point for me after months of struggling with my mental health. My passion for technology, coding, and learning new things provided me a light at the end of the tunnel and immersed myself in coursework covering Python, Kali Linux, ethical hacking, network security, and cryptography. Once my mental health recovered, I began to regain my confidence and my happiness. While the cybersecurity program presented its challenges from learning complex technical concepts to balancing demanding coursework, I was able to adapt and grow to a better person. Now, as I prepare to graduate, I can reflect on how these experiences, both the good and bad, have made me the stronger, more confident person I am today, ready to join the ever-evolving career field that is cybersecurity.
Program Reflection
My years at ODU haven’t always been easy and I have faced challenges along the way, but I have overcome them through hard work and resilience. The biggest academic challenge I faced early on was in technical coursework, especially when it comes to understanding complex concepts such as cryptography, because it required precalculus, and I had never been good at math, but I managed to pass the class with a B. To overcome these struggles, I dedicated extra time to studying, contacting my professors, and utilizing online resources. Time management was another challenge that I dealt with during my time at ODU, as I had to balance coursework, personal responsibilities, and my overall mental health. To improve my time management, I started doing my assignments ahead of time and tackling them one at a time instead of doing them all at once. Courses that I took, such as CYSE250 and CYSE450, were particularly instrumental in shaping my understanding of cybersecurity. Learning the basics of Python in CYSE250 and brute force attacks in CYSE450 proved important in the field of cybersecurity. Lab assignments and further enhanced my ability to work with different cybersecurity tools, which gave me a well-rounded foundation to transition from ODU into the cybersecurity field.
IDS 493 Reflection
IDS493 is a course at ODU that helps students create and improve their ePortfolio to appeal to future employers as evidence of their experience, coursework, and skills. The course is an eight-week class that guides you towards making an ePortfolio that is organized, professional, and accessible, and is a source of all of your qualifications. The most valuable thing I’ve learned would have to be Adobe Color because I have never used that website before, and looking at different photos to make my color palette for my ePortfolio was a fun and interesting experience. In my opinion, what I believe well with my ePortfolio was that I was able to organize my coursework in a way that doesn’t look cluttered or unprofessional. What I also did well is how I was able to add my coursework that had images because for some reason it wouldn’t let me embed any of my work as a PDF, but I still managed to add my resume and my coursework that had screenshots of my work. If I were to point someone to a certain part of my portfolio, it would be my CYSE280 section simply because it was my favorite class that I took at ODU, and because the podcast that I had to listen to to complete offered me valuable insights into the world of hacking.
The most challenging aspect of creating an ePortfolio for me was embedding items, simply because it didn’t let me embed any of my work, so I had to copy and paste each question and answer into my ePortfolio, which was an inconvenience. Other challenges part was making sure that my page was accessible, for example, making sure that everything was easy to read and that the headings are correct, and it was difficult because I have no experience in making an ePortfolio, so making sure everything is perfect was a challenge. If given more time, I would’ve added more visual elements to my ePortfolio to make it more visually appealing to visitors, and I probably would’ve added media elements such as videos explaining my coursework.
As a cybersecurity major, I must use interdisciplinary methods to understand my coursework. In my opinion, I believe that cybersecurity and interdisciplinary studies are intertwined because cybersecurity requires expertise beyond just technology and computer science. For example, when doing my coursework I had to consider ethics as it relates to hacking. I also had to learn about interdisciplinary principles as it relates to cybersecurity, such as psychology, when it comes social engineering attacks such as phishing.
After graduating from college from ODU, I am going to continue to get certifications and possibly do an internship in order to improve my resume. I might even pursue a master’s degree but I haven’t made a decison yet on what i plan to do. I am also planning on learning more technical skills and applying to entry level cybersecurity jobs in order to start my career in the cybersecurity field.